Disclaimer: I do not own OHSHC

~The Thorn of a Rose~

Chapter 10

"So, Emiko, did you enjoy dinner last night?" Kyouya asked, smirking a little.

I cast him a glare. "Are you kidding me? Your dad freaked me out, the way he kept interrogating me." Last night, I had gone over to Kyouya's house to meet his parents. His mother was really sweet, and so was his older sister, Fuyumi. Fuyumi was married, but she had stopped by for dinner and to meet me. I really liked her. She had reminded me of my friend May back home.

His father, on the other hand...

Kyouya chuckled. "Well, you managed to impress him, at least. An American commoner, of Japanese descent, with an exceptional music ability. After all, you are first chair in the Ouran Orchestra."

I rolled my eyes, leaning back in my chair. "But still.." I sighed and checked the time. "I'd better get to the Orchestra club. I'll be by the club later, 'kay Kyouya?"

He nodded, and kissed my forehead, before leaving.

~..*..~

After Orchestra Club, I meandered my way back towards the Host Club. Raiden was sick, so I decided to give him a call later, to see if he was okay. Maybe I would stop by with some soup or something. Oh, wait... I though, and nearly facepalmed myself. Raiden was the second son of a prestigious company that specialized in making musical instruments. He'd probably have a million bowls of soup at his disposal... Stupid rich people.

Thinking through all of this, I opened the door. The Host Club was dressed in police cosplay, and Tamaki was twirling around in a circle, squealing about being a big brother, with a familiar-looking little girl in his arms. Kyouya and Haruhi were off to the side, and as I approached them, I could hear them talking about finding out if 'she has a brother at this school'.

"Kirimi...?" I asked uncertainly.

Everyone looked over at me, including Tamaki who stopped twirling around to stare at me. Kirimi's face brightened. "It's you, the silly person!" She giggled and launched into my arms.

"Emiko, you know who this is?" Hikaru and Kaoru asked.

I nodded. "Yeah, this is Kirmi. She's the younger sister of Nek-"

"Kirimi..." a familiar voice hissed. "Kirimi..."

Everyone turned around in surprise to see the door-that-was-not-there-before reappear. A handsome blond man poked his head out. He reminded me of Tamaki, but there were noticiable differences, like in the hair length. So this is Nekozowa without the wig and cloak? I though with interest.

"Hey, uh, who the hell are you?" Hikaru and Kaoru asked in their usual tactless way.

"He looks like a foreigner!" Hunny said, gasping with excitement.

"What's up with that? Our door looks different all of a sudden..." Haruhi muttered.

Nekozowa stepped forward, his eyes shining. "Oh, Kirimi..." he said.

"Master."

"You forgot your cloak."

Two familiar-looking people stepped forward, and our vision of Nekozowa was being blocked by flying cloth. When Nekozowa was turned to face us again, we saw that he was back in his regular cloak and wig.

"Nekozowa-senpai?" Haruh, the twins, and Tamaki gasped in unison. Belzeneff seemed to cackle in response.

"Master Umehito is terribly vulnerable to any kind of bright light," Kuretake, the family maid, said dramatically. She started going off on the same spiel about how he was cursed, can't go out in light, ect.

The secretary, Kadomatsu, began to join in on the lecture, adding in the bits about Kirimi, with Kuretake whimpering and crying in the background.

"So this little girl is Nekozowa-senpai's younger sister?" Haruhi asked, pointing to Kirmi, who was still in my arms.

"You are quite insightful," Kadomatsu said, using a handkerchief to hid the tears starting in his eyes. I rolled my eyes and went over to the couch, to sit down while avoiding the drama that was happening. Kirmi wriggled out of my arms, racing back to Tamaki, who immediately picked her up.

I looked up from my piano sheet music when Kirmi screamed, "Brother, save me from the monster!" I wathced as she leaped back into Tamaki's arms. Nekozowa was starting to grow a little bit distraught. I turned back to my sheet music, trying to ignore the host club 'trying to help'.

I looked up in time to hear Nekozowa choke out, "Don't worry about me, Suoh. All I want is for my sister to be happy." He let out a little sob. "Make sure she gets the love she deserves!" He fled the room, sobbing.

"But wait a minute! Senpai!" Tamaki yelled.

"Nekozowa!" I yelled, standing up, and running after him. I reached the hallway in time to see Nekozowa disappearing at the end of the hallway. Sighing, I came back into the room to hear Haruhi saying, "I grew up an only child, so I can't relate. I can't imagine how tough it must be to have a sibling whose so different from you that you can't even spend time with together."

The room was silent for a second. Then Tamaki put Kirmi down. She looked up at him in confusion. "Is something wrong? Tell me, Big Brother!"

Tamaki smiled gently at her. "I'm sorry, Kirimi-chan. I'm not the big brother you've been looking for." I saw Haruhi turn towards him, surprised, out of the corner of my eye.

"Don't worry," Tamaki added. "Believe it or not, but you have a big brother out there whose even more handsome than I am! But I promise you, he's a real prince." Kirmi stared up at him in awe.

"Senpai..." Haruhi began nervously.

Tamaki striked a dramatic pose. "Once she stepped into this room, Kirimi-chan became a guest of the Host Club!" he said firmly. "And it's our job to make all of our guests happy! It's an absolute tragedy to see a brother and sister at odds this way! We have to do something to help them! Starting now, Operation Change Nekozowa-senpai into the princely character of Kirimi-chan's dreams is now underway!"

I blinked. "Yeah. No. I'm going to go practice somewhere else, so bye." I turned and grabbed my sheet music before leaving, shaking my head. "Idiots. All of them." I considered for a moment as I walked along. "Except Kyouya. And Haruhi."

I turned the corner and nearly smacked into Nekozowa. He was staring out the window, for once without Belzeneff. I walked up next to him. "Hey, Nekozowa-senpai."

He turned to me, blinking. "Emiko."

I leaned against the windowsill next to him, glancing out. "I'm sorry about Kirimi."

He bit his lip and looked away, back out the window. "The Nekozowas are cursed. It is not your fault," he murmured.

"Is that why you're obsessed with dark magic?" I asked curiously. "Because you can't go out into the light?"

He nodded. "I embraced the darkness, but yet it came with a sacrifice."

"I'm sorry," I said yet again, placing a hand on his arm. "I'm here for you, Nekozowa. If you need to talk, don't hesitate to come find me."

He blinked, surprised, but then smiled at me. "Thank you, Emiko."

I grinned back. "No problem!"

"BOSS! We found him!" two familiar voices called. Hikaru and Kaoru ran up and stood on either side of me.

Tamaki appeared a moment later with the rest of the host club plus Renge trailing behind. I had met Renge at an earlier date and decided to stay away from the crazed otaku who gave me evil looks because I was dating Kyouya.

"Imoto-chan! Dopplegangers! Grab him!" Tamaki yelled, brandishing his arm towards Nekozowa. The twins pounced on him and ran away, carrying my poor friend in-between them. The host club disappeared after them, chatting.

I blinked. "Kidnapped?"

"No," a familiar voice said. "Simply up to another idiotic plan." I turned around to see Kyouya.

"Hey," I said, grinning. "Poor Nekozowa."

He raised an eyebrow. "I suppose. Do you need a ride home?"

I shrugged. "Sure, why not. Let me just rescue Haruhi and then we can go." I gave Kyouya a hug before heading off down the hallway towards the host club.

A/N

*waves arms hysterically* I'M SO SORRYYYYY! It's been MONTHS since I've last updated! To be frank, my muse for this story went on a long trip to the Caribbean and left me behind... I'M STILL VERY SORRY!

I promise on my honor as a band geek that I will have the next chapter up VERY soon! No more will I neglect this story! I'M SORRYYYYYY xP

~Eva Sirico~